The project of a "Democratic Party" was often mentioned by Prodi as the natural evolution of The Olive Tree and was bluntly envisioned by Michele Salvati, a former centrist deputy of the DS, in an appeal in Il Foglio newspaper in April 2013.[13] The term Partito Democratico was used for the first time in a formal context by the DL and DS members of the Regional Council of Veneto, who chose to form a joint group named The Olive Tree – Venetian Democratic Party (L'Ulivo – Partito Democratico Veneto) in March 2007.[14]

The 2006 election result, anticipated by the 2005 primary election in which over four million voters endorsed Prodi as candidate for Prime Minister, gave a push to the project of a unified centre-left party. Eight parties agreed to merge into the PD:

While the DL agreed to the merger with virtually no resistance, the DS experienced a more heated final congress. On 19 April 2007 approximately 75% of party members voted in support of the merger of the DS into the PD. The left-wing opposition, led by Fabio Mussi, obtained just 15% of the support within the party. A third motion, presented by Gavino Angius and supportive of the PD only within the Party of European Socialists (PES), obtained 10% of the vote. During and following the congress, both Mussi and Angius announced their intention not to join the PD and founded a new party called Democratic Left (SD).

On 22 May 2007 the composition of the organising committee of the nascent party was announced. It featured 45 members, mainly politicians from the two aforementioned major parties and the leaders of the other six minor parties, but included also external figures such as Giuliano Amato, Marcello De Cecco, Gad Lerner, Carlo Petrini and Tullia Zevi.[15] On 18 June the committee met to decide the rules for the open election of the 2,400 members of the party's constituent assembly. Prodi announced each voter would choose between a number of lists, each of them associated with a candidate for secretary.

All candidates interested in running for the PD leadership had to be associated with one of the founding parties and present at least 2,000 valid signatures by 30 July 2007. A total of ten candidates officially registered their candidacy: Walter Veltroni, Rosy Bindi, Enrico Letta, Furio Colombo, Marco Pannella, Antonio Di Pietro, Mario Adinolfi, Pier Giorgio Gawronski, Jacopo Schettini, Lucio Cangini and Amerigo Rutigliano. Of these, Pannella and Di Pietro were rejected because of their involvement in external parties (the Radicals and Italy of Values respectively), whereas Cangini and Rutigliano did not manage to present the necessary 2,000 valid signatures for the 9pm deadline, and Colombo's candidacy was instead made into hiatus in order to give him 48 additional hours to integrate the required documentation; Colombo later decided to retire his candidacy citing his impossibility to fit with all the requirements.[16] All rejected candidates had the chance against the decision in 48 hours' time,[17] with Pannella and Rutigliano being the only two candidates to appeal against it.[18] Both were rejected on 3 August.[19]

On 14 October 2007 Veltroni was elected leader with about 75% of the national votes in an open primary attended by over three million voters.[20] Veltroni was proclaimed secretary during a party's constituent assembly held in Milan on 28 October 2007.[21]

On 21 November, the new logo was unveiled; it depicts the party acronym PD with colours reminiscent of the Italian tricolour flag (green, white and red) and features an olive branch, the historical symbol of The Olive Tree. In the words of Ermete Realacci, green represents the ecologist and social-liberal cultures, white is for the Catholic solidarity and red for the socialist and social-democratic traditions.[22] The "green-white-red" idea was coined by Schettini during his campaign.

After the premature fall of the Prodi II Cabinet in January 2008, the PD decided to form a less diverse coalition. The party invited the Radicals and the Socialist Party (PS) to join its lists, but only the Radicals accepted, and formed an alliance with Italy of Values (IdV), which was set to join the PD after the election. The PD included many notable candidates and new faces in its lists and Walter Veltroni, who tried to present the PD as the party of the renewal in contrast both with Silvio Berlusconi and the previous centre-left government, ran an intense and modern campaign, which led him to visit all provinces of Italy, but that was not enough.

In the 2008 general election on 13–14 April 2008 the PD–IdV coalition won 37.5% of the vote and was defeated by the centre-right coalition, composed of The People of Freedom (PdL), Lega Nord and the Movement for the Autonomy (46.8%). The PD was able to absorb some votes from the parties of the far left (as also IdV did), but lost voters to the Union of the Centre (UdC), ending up with 33.2% of the vote, 217 deputies and 119 senators. After the election Veltroni, who was gratified by the result, formed a shadow cabinet. IdV, excited by its 4.4% which made it the fourth largest party in Parliament, refused to join both the Democratic groups and the shadow cabinet.

The early months after the election were a difficult time for the PD and Veltroni, whose leadership was weakened by the growing influence of internal factions, because of the popularity of Berlusconi and the dramatic rise of IdV in opinion polls.[23] IdV became a strong competitor of the PD and the relations between the two parties became tense. In the 2008 Abruzzo regional election the PD was forced to support IdV candidate Carlo Costantini.[24] In October Veltroni, who distanced from Di Pietro many times, declared that "on some issues he [Di Pietro] is distant from the democratic language of the centre-left".[25]

The 2009 European Parliament election was an important test for the PD. Prior to the election, the PD considered offering hospitality to the Socialist Party (PS) and the Greens in its lists, and proposed a similar pact to Democratic Left (SD).[28] However, the Socialists, the Greens and Democratic Left decided instead to contest the election together as a new alliance called Left and Freedom, which failed to achieve the 4% threshold required to return any MEPs, but damaged the PD, which gained 26.1% of the vote, returning 21 MEPs.

The national congress and the subsequent leadership primary were announced for October. By July three candidates announced their bid: Pier Luigi Bersani, Ignazio Marino and the outgoing secretary Dario Franceschini.

In the local congresses a 56.4% of party members voted and Bersani was by far the most voted candidate with 55.1% of the vote, largely ahead of Franceschini (37.0%) and Marino (7.9%).[29] On 25 October 2009, Bersani was elected new secretary of the party with about 53% of the vote in an open primary in which three million people participated. Franceschini got 34% and Marino 13%. On 7 November, during the first meeting of the new national assembly, Bersani was declared secretary, Rosy Bindi was elected party president (with Marina Sereni and Ivan Scalfarotto vice-presidents), Enrico Letta deputy secretary and Antonio Misiani treasurer.[30][31]

In reaction to the election of Bersani, perceived by some moderates as an old-style social democrat, Francesco Rutelli, a long-time critic of the party's course, and other centrists and liberals within the PD left in order to form a new centrist party, named Alliance for Italy (ApI).[32] Following March 2009, and especially after Bersani's victory, many deputies,[33] senators,[34] one MEP and several regional/local councillors[35] left the party to join the UdC, ApI and other minor parties: they included many Rutelliani and most Theo-Dems.

In the meantime, in the 2012 regional electionRosario Crocetta, a Democrat, was elected President with 30.5% of the vote thanks to the support of the UdC, but the coalition failed to secure an outright majority in the Regional Assembly.[50][51] For the first time in 50 years, a man of the left had the chance to govern Sicily.

On 25 November Bersani came ahead in the first round of the primary election with 44.9% of the vote, Renzi came second with 35.5%, followed by Vendola (15.6%), Puppato (2.6%) and Tabacci (1.4%). Bersani did better in the South, while Renzi prevailed in Tuscany, Umbria, and Marche.[52] In the subsequent run-off, on 2 December, Bersani trounced Renzi 60.9% to 39.1%, by winning in each and every single region but Tuscany, where Renzi won 54.9% of the vote. The PD secretary did particularly well in Lazio (67.8%), Campania (69.4%), Apulia (71.4%), Basilicata (71.7%), Calabria (74.4%), Sicily (66.5%), and Sardinia (73.5%).[53]

In the election the PD and its coalition fared much worse than expected and according to pollsters predictions. The PD won just 25.4% of the vote for the Chamber of Deputies (–8.0% from 2008) and the centre-left coalition narrowly won the majority in the house over the centre-right coalition (29.5% to 29.3%). Even worse, in the Senate the PD and its allies failed to get an outright majority, due to the rise of the Five Star Movement (M5S) and the centre-right's victory in key regions, such as Lombardy, Veneto, Campania, Apulia, Calabria and Sicily (the centre-right was awarded of the majority premium in those regions, leaving the centre-left with just a handful of elects there). Consequently, the PD-led coalition was unable to govern alone because it lacked a majority in the Senate, which has equal power to the Chamber. As a result, Bersani, who refused any agreement with the PdL and was rejected by the M5S, failed to form a government.

On 17 April, after an agreement with the centre-right parties, Bersani put forward Franco Marini as his party's candidate for President to succeed to Giorgio Napolitano. However, Renzi, several Democratic delegates and SEL announced that they would not support Marini.[54] On 18 April Marini received just 521 votes in the first ballot, short of the 672 needed,[55] as more than 200 centre-left delegates rebelled. On 19 April the PD and SEL selected Romano Prodi to be their candidate in the fourth ballot.[56] Despite his candidacy had received unanimous support among the two parties' delegates, Prodi obtained only 395 votes in the fourth ballot[55] as more than 100 centre-left electors did not vote for him.[57] After the vote, Prodi pulled out of the race and Bersani announced his resignation from party secretary.[58] Also Bindi, the party's president, announced her resignation as she did not want to carry responsibility for the party's bad management during the past weeks. The day after Napolitano accepted to stand again for election and was re-elected President with the support of most parliamentary parties.

After Bersani's resignation from party secretary on 20 April 2013, the PD remained without a leader for two weeks.

On 11 May 2013 at the national assembly of the party Guglielmo Epifani was elected secretary with 85.8% of vote. Epifani, secretary-general of the Italian General Confederation of Labour (CGIL), Italy's largest trade union, from 2002 to 2010, was the first former Socialist to lead the party. Epifani's mission was to lead the party toward a national congress in October.[59]

A few weeks after Epifani's election as secretary, the PD had a success in the 2013 local elections, winning in 69 comuni (including Rome and all the other 14 provincial capitals up for election), while the PdL won 22 and the M5S 1.[60]

On 9 November Epifani announced that the PD would organise the next congress of the Party of European Socialists (PES) in Rome in early 2014, sparking protests among some of the party's Christian democrats, who opposed PES membership.[61]

Epifani was however little more than a secretary pro tempore and, in fact, he frequently repeated that he was not going to run for a full term as secretary in the leadership race that would take place in late 2013, saying that his candidacy would be a betrayal of his mandate.[62][63][64][65] Four individuals filed their bid on 11 October: Matteo Renzi, Pippo Civati, Gianni Cuperlo and Gianni Pittella.[66]

As usual, the leadership race started with voting by party members in local conventions (7–17 November). Renzi came first with 45.3%, followed by Cuperlo (39.4%), Civati (9.4%) and Pittella (5.8%).[67] The first three were thus admitted to the open primary.

On 8 December Renzi, who won in all regions but was stronger in the Centre-North, trounced his opponents with 67.6% of the vote. Cuperlo, whose support was higher in the South, came second with 18.2%, while Civati, whose message did well with northern urban and progressive voters, third with 14.2%.[68] On 15 December Renzi, whose executive included many young people and a majority of women,[69] was proclaimed secretary by the party's national assembly, while Cuperlo was elected president, as proposed by Renzi.[70]

On 20 January 2014 Cuperlo criticized the electoral reform proposed by Renzi in agreement with Berlusconi, but the proposal was overwhelmingly approved by the party's national board.[71] The day after the vote, Cuperlo resigned from president.[72] He was later replaced by Matteo Orfini, who hailed from the party's left-wing, but since then became more and more supportive of Renzi.

After frequent calls by Renzi for a "new phase", on 13 February the national board decided to put an end to Letta's government and form a new one led by Renzi, as the latter had proposed.[73][74] Subsequently, on 22 February Renzi was sworn in as Prime Minister at the head of an identical coalition.[75] On 28 February the PD officially joined the PES as a full member,[76] ending a decade-long debate.

In local conventions Renzi came first (66.7%), Orlando second (25.3%), Emiliano third (8.0%). In the open primary (30 April) Renzi won 69.2% of the vote, as opposed to Orlando's 20.0% and Emiliano's 10.9%.[101][102] On 7 May Renzi was sworn in as secretary again, with Maurizio Martina as deputy, and Orfini was confirmed president.

To be sure, there is however a debate on whether the PD is actually a social-democratic party and to what extent. For instance, Alfred Pfaller observed that the PD "has adopted a pronounced centrist-pragmatic position, trying to appeal to a broad spectrum of middle-class and working-class voters, but shying away from a determined pursuit of redistributive goals".[108] For his part, Gianfranco Pasquino observed that "for almost all the leaders, militants and members of the PD, social democracy has never been part of their part nor should represent their political goal", but also concluded that "its overall identity and perception are by no means those of an European-style social-democratic party".[3]

While traditionally supporting the social integration of immigrants, since 2017 the PD has adopted a more critical approach on the issue.[109] Inspired by Renzi, re-elected secretary in April, and Marco Minniti, interior minister since December 2016, the party promoted stricter policies regarding immigration and public security.[110][111] These policies resulted in broad criticism from the left-wing Democrats and Progressives (partners in government) as well as left-leaning intellectuals like Roberto Saviano and Gad Lerner.[112] In August Lerner, who was among the founding members of the PD, left the party altogether, due to its new immigration policies.[113]

It is not an easy task to include the trend represented by Matteo Renzi, whose supporters have been known as "Big Bangers", "Now!" or, more frequently, Renziani, in any of the categories above. The nature of Renzi's progressivism is a matter of debate and has been linked both to liberalism and populism.[115][115][116][117][118][119] According to Maria Teresa Meli of Corriere della Sera, Renzi "pursues a precise model, borrowed from the Labour Party and Bill Clinton's Democratic Party", comprising "a strange mix (for Italy) of liberal policies in the economic sphere and populism. This means that, on one side, he will attack the privileges of trade unions, especially of the CGIL, which defends only the already protected, while, on the other, he will sharply attack the vested powers, bankers, Confindustria and a certain type of capitalism [...]."[120]

Matteo Renzi, a centrist who has led the party since 2013, wanted the party to join both the SI and the PES.[125][126][127] On 20 February 2014 the PD leadership applied for full membership of the PES.[128][129] In Renzi's view, the party would count more as a member of a major European party and, within the PES, it would join forces with alike parties such as the British Labour Party. On 28 February the PD was welcomed as a full member into the PES.[76]

The PD includes several internal factions, most of which trace the previous allegiances of party members. Factions form different alliances depending on the issues and some party members have multiple factional allegiances.

Bersaniani and Dalemiani: the social-democratic groups around Bersani and Massimo D'Alema (who wants the PD to be a traditional centre-left party in the European social-democratic tradition); D'Alema organized his faction as Reformists and Democrats, welcoming also some Lettiani and some Populars.

Theo-Dems: a tiny Christian-democratic group representing the right-wing of the party on social issues, albeit being progressive on economic ones; most Theo-Dems, including their leader Paola Binetti, left the PD in 2009–2010 in order to join the UdC or the ApI, while others, led by Luigi Bobba, chose to stay.

un-affiliated social liberals, social democrats and supporters of a broad alliance including Italy of Values, the Radicals and the parties to the left of the PD; after the election, most of them joined Marino in an association named Change Italy.

Olivists: followers of Romano Prodi who want the party to be stuck in the tradition of The Olive Tree; the group, which includes both Christian left exponents and social democrats is led by Arturo Parisi. Most Olivists supported Bersani, while Parisi endorsed Franceschini.

As of September the party's majority was composed of those who supported Bersani since the beginning (divided in five main factions: Bersaniani, Dalemiani, Lettiani, Bindiani and the party's left-wing) and Democratic Area of Franceschini and Fassino. Then, there were two minority coalitions: Veltroni's Democratic Movement (Veltroniani, Fioroni's Populars, ex-Rutelliani, Democratic Ecologists and a majority of Liberal PD members) and Change Italy of Ignazio Marino.[135]

According to Corriere della Sera, in November 2011 the party was divided mainly in three ideological camps battling for its soul:

Since November 2011 similar differences surfaced in the party over Monti Cabinet: while the party's right-wing, especially Liberal PD, was enthusiastic in its support, Fassina and other leftists, especially those linked to trade unions, were critical.[138][139][140][141] In February 2012 Fassina published a book in which he described his view as "neo-labourite humanism" and explained it in connection with Catholic social teaching, saying that his "neo-labourism" was designed to attract Catholic voters.[142] Once again, his opposition to economic liberalism was strongly criticized by the party's right-wing as well as by Stefano Ceccanti, a leading Catholic in the party and supporter of Tony Blair's New Labour, who said that a leftist platform à la Fassina would never win back the Catholic vote in places like Veneto.[143]

As the party performed below expectations, more Democrats started to look at Renzi, who had been defeated by Bersani in the 2012 primary election to select the centre-left's candidate for Prime Minister.[145] In early September, two leading centrists, Franceschini and Fioroni, leaders of Democratic Area and The Populars, endorsed Renzi.[146] Also two former leaders of the Democrats of the Left, Veltroni and Fassino,[147] decided to support Renzi, while a third, D'Alema, endorsed Gianni Cuperlo.[148]

The 2014 European Parliament election gave a thumping 40.8% of the vote to the party, which was the first Italian party to get more than 40% of the vote in a nationwide election since DC won 42.4% of the vote in the 1958 general election. In 2014, as usual, the PD did better in Tuscany (56.6%), Emilia-Romagna (52.5%) and Umbria (49.2%), but made significant gains in Lombardy (40.3%, +19.0% from 2009), Veneto (37.5%, +17.2%) and the South.

The electoral results of the PD in the 10 most populated regions of Italy are shown in the table below.

^Although she was never elected party president, Finocchiaro presided over all the party's meetings since Prodi's resignation, including the national assembly of 20 June 2008 (see video), the national assembly of 21 February 2009 (see video) and the national congress of 11 October 2009 (see video).

1.
Matteo Renzi
–
Matteo Renzi is an Italian politician who served as the Prime Minister of Italy from February 2014 until December 2016. His government is the fourth longest one in the history of Italy as a republic, Renzi served as President of the Province of Florence from 2004 to 2009 and as Mayor of Florence from 2009 to 2014. At the age of 39 years and 42 days upon assuming office and he was also the first serving Mayor to become Prime Minister. In 2014 the American magazine Fortune ranked Renzi as the third most influential person under 40 in the world, moreover, Renzi is nicknamed il Rottamatore due to his ambition of renovating the Italian political establishment. Renzi was born in 1975 in Florence, Tuscany, the second of four children and his father, Tiziano Renzi, was a small business owner and Christian Democratic municipal councillor in Rignano sullArno. During this time he was a Scout in the Association of Catholic Guides, in 1999 he graduated from the University of Florence with a degree in law, with a thesis on Giorgio La Pira, the former Christian Democratic Mayor of Florence. He then went on to work for CHIL Srl, a company owned by his family. During this time Renzi was also a referee at amateur level. In 1994, he participated as a competitor for five episodes in the television program La Ruota Della Fortuna hosted by Mike Bongiorno. Renzis interest in politics began in high school, in the same year he married Agnese Landini, with whom he later had three children. In 2001 he joined Francesco Rutellis The Daisy party, composed by members of the disbanded Peoples Party, on 13 June 2004 he was elected President of Florence Province with 59% of the vote, as the candidate of the centre-left coalition. He was the youngest person to become President of an Italian Province, after five years as the President of Florence Province, Renzi announced that he would seek election as the Mayor of Florence. On 9 June 2009, Renzi, by now a member of the Democratic Party, won the election on a second round vote with 60% of the votes, following this public meeting, the Italian media gave Renzi the nickname il Rottamatore, or The Scrapper. In 2011, Renzi organised a public meeting, also in Florence. After the first round of the December election, Renzi gained 35. 5% of the vote, finishing second behind Bersani and qualifying for the second ballot. Renzi eventually gained a total of 39% of the vote, against Bersanis 61%. 5% of the vote, despite opinion polls placing the party at almost 30%. Following the resignation of Pier Luigi Bersani in April 2013, Renzi announced that he would stand for the position of Secretary of the Democratic Party, the PDs loss of seats led to party members doubts concerning Bersanis leadership abilities. Renzis impressive resume at such a young in age in combination with his reputation as political outsider thanks to his scrapping made him very electable in comparison

2.
Matteo Orfini
–
Matteo Orfini is an Italian politician, a member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies and President of the Democratic Party. Matteo Orfini was born in Rome in 1974 and he started his interest in politics when he attended the lyceum. In 2004 became a collaborator of the leader, Massimo D’Alema. In 2007 Orfini joined the Democratic Party, becoming the leader of the party’s internal left-wing faction Giovani Turchi, on 14 June 2014 he replaced Gianni Cuperlo, becoming President of the Democratic Party

3.
Democrats of the Left
–
The Democrats of the Left was a social-democratic political party in Italy. The DS, successor of the Democratic Party of the Left, a member of The Olive Tree coalition, in October 2007 DS merged with Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy and a number of minor centre-left parties to form the Democratic Party. The DS was successively led by Massimo DAlema, Walter Veltroni, the DS developed from the Democratic Party of the Left, which in turn was a reshaping of the Italian Communist Party into a democratic-socialist party. Under the leadership of Massimo DAlema, the PDS merged with some minor centre-left movements at a convention on 13 February 1998. The DS symbol lacked the hammer and sickle, which was present in the PDS one and was replaced by the red rose of European social democracy as used by the Party of European Socialists. Massimo DAlema became Prime Minister of Italy in October 1998, the first former Communist to hold the post, DAlema was replaced as the leader of DS by Walter Veltroni. During the partys national congress in November 2001, Piero Fassino. Fassino was re-elected during the national congress in February 2005 with 79. 0% of party members votes. The DS–DL–MRE joint list obtained 31. 2% of the vote and 220 deputies, the partys dismal result and the razor-thin win of The Union coalition over the centre-right House of Freedoms coalition prompted a discussion on the partys future. By the end of 2006 the party leadership was committed to a merger with DL, nine Ministers of the Prodi II Cabinet were affiliated to the DS, notably including Massimo DAlema Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs. Also Giorgio Napolitano, who was elected President of Italy in May 2006, hailed from the DS, the left-wing of Fabio Mussi, Cesare Salvi, Fulvia Bandoli and Valdo Spini scored 15. 0%, this motion was instead opposed to the merger of the DS with DL. As a result, the DS approved the formation of a Democratic Party, along with DL, inside the DS, there was often a somewhat simplistic distinction between reformists and radicals, indicating respectively the partys mainstream and its left-wing. The party also included several organised factions, a dissident group left the Labourites in order to launch Socialists and Europeans as a vehicle to oppose the partys merger with DL. On the partys right, Liberal DS had a moderate Third Way or radical political agenda. The electoral results of the Democrats of the Left in the 10 most populated regions of Italy are shown in the table below, the result for the 2006 general election refers to the election for the Senate

4.
Rome
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Rome is a special comune and the capital of Italy. Rome also serves as the capital of the Lazio region, with 2,873,598 residents in 1,285 km2, it is also the countrys largest and most populated comune and fourth-most populous city in the European Union by population within city limits. It is the center of the Metropolitan City of Rome, which has a population of 4.3 million residents, the city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, within Lazio, along the shores of the Tiber. Romes history spans more than 2,500 years, while Roman mythology dates the founding of Rome at only around 753 BC, the site has been inhabited for much longer, making it one of the oldest continuously occupied sites in Europe. The citys early population originated from a mix of Latins, Etruscans and it was first called The Eternal City by the Roman poet Tibullus in the 1st century BC, and the expression was also taken up by Ovid, Virgil, and Livy. Rome is also called the Caput Mundi, due to that, Rome became first one of the major centres of the Italian Renaissance, and then the birthplace of both the Baroque style and Neoclassicism. Famous artists, painters, sculptors and architects made Rome the centre of their activity, in 1871 Rome became the capital of the Kingdom of Italy, and in 1946 that of the Italian Republic. Rome has the status of a global city, Rome ranked in 2014 as the 14th-most-visited city in the world, 3rd most visited in the European Union, and the most popular tourist attraction in Italy. Its historic centre is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, monuments and museums such as the Vatican Museums and the Colosseum are among the worlds most visited tourist destinations with both locations receiving millions of tourists a year. Rome hosted the 1960 Summer Olympics and is the seat of United Nations Food, however, it is a possibility that the name Romulus was actually derived from Rome itself. As early as the 4th century, there have been alternate theories proposed on the origin of the name Roma. There is archaeological evidence of occupation of the Rome area from approximately 14,000 years ago. Evidence of stone tools, pottery and stone weapons attest to about 10,000 years of human presence, several excavations support the view that Rome grew from pastoral settlements on the Palatine Hill built above the area of the future Roman Forum. Between the end of the age and the beginning of the Iron age. However, none of them had yet an urban quality, nowadays, there is a wide consensus that the city was gradually born through the aggregation of several villages around the largest one, placed above the Palatine. All these happenings, which according to the excavations took place more or less around the mid of the 8th century BC. Despite recent excavations at the Palatine hill, the view that Rome has been indeed founded with an act of will as the legend suggests in the middle of the 8th century BC remains a fringe hypothesis. Traditional stories handed down by the ancient Romans themselves explain the earliest history of their city in terms of legend and myth

5.
Social democracy
–
In this period, social democrats embraced a mixed economy based on the predominance of private property, with only a minority of essential utilities and public services under public ownership. By 1868–1869, Marxism had become the official theoretical basis of the first social democratic party established in Europe, in this period, social democracy became associated with reformist socialism. The origins of social democracy have been traced to the 1860s, with the rise of the first major party in Europe. 1864 saw the founding of the International Workingmens Association, also known as the First International, another issue in the First International was the role of reformism. Although Lassalle was not a Marxist, he was influenced by the theories of Marx and Engels, however unlike Marxs and Engelss The Communist Manifesto, Lassalle promoted class struggle in a more moderate form. While Marx viewed the state negatively as an instrument of class rule that should only exist temporarily upon the rise to power of the proletariat and then dismantled, Lassalle accepted the state. Lassalle viewed the state as a means through which workers could enhance their interests, Lassalles strategy was primarily electoral and reformist, with Lassalleans contending that the working class needed a political party that fought above all for universal adult male suffrage. The ADAVs party newspaper was called Der Sozialdemokrat, Marx and Engels responded to the title Sozialdemocrat with distaste, Engels once writing, But what a title, Sozialdemokrat. Why dont they simply call it The Proletarian. Marx agreed with Engels that Sozialdemokrat was a bad title, there was a Marxist faction within the ADAV represented by Wilhelm Liebknecht who became one of the editors of the Die Sozialdemokrat. Friction in the ADAV arose over Lassalles policy of an approach to Bismarck that had assumed incorrectly that Bismarck in turn would be friendly towards them. This approach was opposed by the partys Marxists, including Liebknecht, opposition in the ADAV to Lassalles friendly approach to Bismarcks government resulted in Liebknecht resigning from his position as editor of Die Sozialdemokrat and leaving the ADAV in 1865. Though the SDAP was not officially Marxist, it was the first major organization to be led by Marxists and Marx. The party adopted stances similar to those adopted by Marx at the First International, there was intense rivalry and antagonism between the SDAP and the ADAV, with the SDAP being highly hostile to the Prussian government while the ADAV pursued a reformist and more cooperative approach. In spite of such militant rhetoric to appeal to the working class, in 1875 Marx attacked the Gotha Program that became the program of Social Democratic Party of Germany in the same year in his Critique of the Gotha Program. Marx was not optimistic that Germany at the time was not open to a means to achieve socialism. In addition he noticed a change over the relations between the two classes. The Reform Acts of 1867 and 1884 make an approach to universal suffrage. The Fabian Society was founded as a group from the Fellowship of the New Life due to opposition within that group to socialism

6.
Christian left
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The term Christian left refers to a spectrum of left-wing Christian political and social movements that largely embrace viewpoints described as social justice that upholds a social gospel. Given the inherent diversity in international political thought, the term can have different meanings, although there is some overlap, the Christian Left is distinct from liberal Christianity as not all Christian Leftists are Liberal Christians and vice versa. The term left-wing might encompass a number of values, some of which may or may not be held by different Christian movements, the most common religious viewpoint that might be described as left-wing is social justice, or care for impoverished and oppressed groups. Supporters of this trend might encourage universal health care, welfare provisions, subsidized education, foreign aid, with values stemming from egalitarianism, adherents of the Christian left consider it part of their religious duty to take actions on behalf of the oppressed. As nearly all major religions contain some kind of requirement to help others, the Christian Left holds that social justice, renunciation of power, humility, forgiveness, and private observation of prayer, are mandated by the Gospel. The Bible contains accounts of Jesus repeatedly advocating for the poor and outcast over the wealthy, powerful, the Christian Left maintains that such a stance is relevant and important. While non-religious socialists sometimes find support for socialism in the Gospels, Christian faith is the core of their belief, which in turn demands social justice. Most people viewed the church as part of the establishment, revolutions in America, France, Russia and Spain were in part directed against the established churches and instituted a separation of church and state. However, in the 19th century, some writers and activists developed a school of thought, Christian socialism, early socialist thinkers such as Robert Owen, Henri de Saint-Simon based their theories of socialism upon Christian principles. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels reacted against these theories by formulating a theory of socialism in The Communist Manifesto. Starting in the late 19th century and early 20th century, some began to take on the view that genuine Christianity had much in common with a Leftist perspective. From St. Augustine of Hippos City of God through St. Thomas Mores Utopia major Christian writers had expounded upon views that socialists found agreeable, of major interest was the extremely strong thread of egalitarianism in the New Testament. Other common leftist concerns such as pacifism, social justice, racial equality, human rights, in the United States during this period, Episcopalians and Congregationalists generally tended to be the most liberal, both in theological interpretation and in their adherence to the Social Gospel. In Canada, a coalition of liberal Congregationalists, Methodists, and Presbyterians founded the United Church of Canada, later, in the 20th century, liberation theology was championed by such writers as Gustavo Gutierrez and Matthew Fox. This was particularly true among the Methodists and Anglo-Catholics in England, Father Adolph Kolping in Germany, some Christian groups were closely associated with the peace movements against the Vietnam War as well as the 2003 Invasion of Iraq. Religious leaders in many countries have also been on the forefront of criticizing any cuts to welfare programs. In addition, many prominent civil rights activists were religious figures, in the United States, members of the Christian Left come from a spectrum of denominations, Peace churches, elements of the Protestant mainline churches, Catholicism, and some evangelicals. The Christian Left does not seem to be so well-organized or publicized as its right-wing counterpart, opponents state that this is because it is less numerous

7.
Social liberalism
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Social liberalism is a political ideology that believes individual liberty requires a level of social justice. Under social liberalism, the good of the community is viewed as harmonious with the freedom of the individual, Social liberal policies have been widely adopted in much of the capitalist world, particularly following World War II. Social liberal ideas and parties tend to be considered centrist or centre-left, a reaction against social liberalism in the late twentieth century, often called neoliberalism, led to monetarist economic policies and a reduction in government provision of services. However, governments continued to provide services and retained control over economic policy. In American political usage, the social liberalism describes progressive stances on socio-political issues like abortion, same-sex marriage or gun control. A social liberal in this sense may hold either liberal or conservative views on fiscal policy, some Victorian writers—including Charles Dickens, Thomas Carlyle, and Matthew Arnold—became early influential critics of social injustice. John Stuart Mill contributed enormously to liberal thought by combining elements of liberalism with what eventually became known as the new liberalism. More positive and proactive measures were required to ensure that individual would have an equal opportunity of success. What they proposed is now called social liberalism, in their view, the poverty, squalor and ignorance in which many people lived made it impossible for freedom and individuality to flourish. New Liberals believed that conditions could be ameliorated only through collective action coordinated by a strong, welfare-oriented. What was new in these reforms was the assumption that the state could be a positive force. Was not how much the state left people alone, but whether he gave them the capacity to fill themselves as individuals, schulze-Delitzsch is also known as the founding father of the German cooperative movement and is credited as the organiser of the worlds first credit unions. But their ideas found relatively few supporters among the liberal politicians, one of the first German authors to propose the term and concept of social liberalism was the historian and economist Ignaz Jastrow. He published the manifesto Social-liberal, Tasks for Liberalism in Prussia in 1893 and this project was however rejected by Social Democrats and failed. Naumann called this a proletarian-bourgeois integral liberalism, the new group advocated, among other things, increased social welfare legislation, the right to strike, and profit-sharing in industry. Although the party was unable to win any seats and soon dissolved, the left-liberal German Democratic Party during the Weimar Republic included both classically and economically liberal and social-liberal currents. They explained that a division of labor caused greater opportunity and individualism. They argued that the individual had a debt to society, promoting progressive taxation to support public works, however, they wanted the state to coordinate rather than to manage, and they encouraged cooperative insurance schemes among individuals

8.
Political spectrum
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A political spectrum is a system of classifying different political positions upon one or more geometric axes that symbolize independent political dimensions. Most long-standing spectra include a wing and left wing, which originally referred to seating arrangements in the French parliament after the Revolution. According to the simplest left–right axis, communism and socialism are usually regarded internationally as being on the left, liberalism can mean different things in different contexts, sometimes on the left, sometimes on the right. Those with an intermediate outlook are classified as centrists or moderates, politics that rejects the conventional left–right spectrum is known as syncretic politics. Political scientists have noted that a single left–right axis is insufficient for describing the existing variation in political beliefs. As seen from the Speakers seat at the front of the Assembly, the aristocracy sat on the right, originally, the defining point on the ideological spectrum was the Ancien Régime. The Right thus implied support for aristocratic or royal interests, and the church, while The Left implied support for republicanism, secularism, and civil liberties. Because the political franchise at the start of the revolution was relatively narrow, the original Left represented mainly the interests of the bourgeoisie and their political interests in the French Revolution lay with opposition to the aristocracy, and so they found themselves allied with the early capitalists. However, this did not mean that their interests lay with the laissez-faire policies of those representing them politically. As capitalist economies developed, the aristocracy became less relevant and were replaced by capitalist representatives. This evolution has often pulled parliamentary politicians away from laissez-faire economic policies, for almost a century, social scientists have considered the problem of how best to describe political variation. In 1950, Leonard W. Submitting the results to factor analysis and this system was derived empirically, rather than devising a political model on purely theoretical grounds and testing it, Fergusons research was exploratory. As a result of method, care must be taken in the interpretation of Fergusons three factors, as factor analysis will output an abstract factor whether an objectively real factor exists or not. Although replication of the Nationalism factor was inconsistent, the finding of Religionism and Humanitarianism had a number of replications by Ferguson, shortly afterward, Hans Eysenck began researching political attitudes in Great Britain. He believed that there was something similar about the National Socialists on the one hand. Submitting this value questionnaire to the process of factor analysis used by Ferguson. Such analysis produces a factor whether or not it corresponds to a real-world phenomenon, Eysencks dimensions of R and T were found by factor analyses of values in Germany and Sweden, France, and Japan. According to Eysenck, members of both ideologies were tough-minded, in this context, Eysenck carried out studies on nazism and communist groups, claiming to find members of both groups to be more dominant and more aggressive than control groups

9.
European political party
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A European political party is a type of political party organisation operating transnationally in Europe and in the institutions of the European Union. They are regulated and funded by the European Union and are made up of national parties. Europarties have the right to campaign during the European elections and express themselves within the European Parliament by their affiliated political groups. Europarties, through meetings with their affiliated heads of state and government. The term political party in the EU can mean three different types of entities, domestic political parties, political groups in the European Parliament, and European political parties. As of January 2016, there are 15 recognised Europarties, Section 41 of the Treaty of Maastricht added Article 138a to the Treaty of Rome, Article 138a stated that Political parties at European level are important as a factor for integration within the Union. They contribute to forming a European awareness and to expressing the political will of the citizens of the Union, so the concept of a political party at European level was born. Article J.18 and Article K.13 of the Treaty of Amsterdam established who should pay for expenditure authorised by Article 138/191 within certain areas. This provided a mechanism whereby Europarties could be paid for out of the European budget, such expenditure included funding national parties, an outcome not originally intended. Article 2, section 19 of the Treaty of Nice added a paragraph to Article 191 of the Treaty of Rome. The reference to Article 251 refers to co-decision, which meant the European Parliament had to be involved, so Europarty funding had to be regulated by the Council and the European Parliament, acting together. This meant that the Europarties can set up and fund legally separate affiliated think-tanks to aid them, the revised regulation also gives Europarties the exclusive responsibility to campaign for the European elections and can use their funds for this purpose. The Authority will be a body of the European Union and this regulation repealed Regulation No 2004/2003, however the provisions of that regulation shall continue to apply for the 2014,2015,2016 and 2017 budget years. Although it came into force on 24 November 2014, the regulations only apply from 1 January 2017. The Authority shall however be set up by 1 September 2016, the Alliance of Independent Democrats in Europe, a loose association of Eurosceptics and nationalists, met the recognition threshold from 2006 to 2008. The heterogeneous Alliance for Europe of the Nations, which included moderate nationalists, national conservatives and Eurosceptics, the eurosceptic, national conservative, right populist Movement for a Europe of Liberties and Democracy was recognized from 2012 to 2016. On 1 November 2008 Declan Ganley had registered a company in Dublin called the Libertas Party Ltd, Libertas applied for Europarty recognition which was briefly granted but then suspended following the disavowal of two of its candidates. As of 1 November 2008, the regulation governing Europarties is Regulation No 2004/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 November 2003, as later amended under codecision

10.
Party of European Socialists
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The Party of European Socialists is a social-democratic European political party. The PES comprises national-level political parties primarily from states of the European Union. The PES member parties are mostly members of the Progressive Alliance or Socialist International. The political group in the European Parliament of the PES is the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, the PES also operates in the Committee of the Regions and the European Council. The PES is currently led by Sergei Stanishev, former Prime Minister of Bulgaria, the partys English name is Party of European Socialists. The Socialists 1962 congress pushed for greater democratisation and powers for Parliament though it was only in 1969 that this possibility was examined by the member states, in 1973, Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom joined the European Community bringing in new parties from these countries. The enlarged Socialist Congress met in Bonn and inaugurated the Confederation of the Socialist Parties of the European Community, the Congress also passed a resolution on social policy, including the right to decent work, social security, democracy and equality in the European economy. In 1978, the Confederation of Socialist Parties approved the first common European election Manifesto, the Luxembourg Congress approved the first Statue of the Confederation of Socialist Parties in 1980. The accession of Greece in 1981, followed by Spain and Portugal in 1986 brought in more parties, in 1984 another common Socialist election manifesto was approved at a congress in Luxembourg. In 2004 Poul Nyrup Rasmussen defeated Giuliano Amato to be elected President of the PES and he was re-elected for a further 2.5 years at the PES Congress in Porto on 8 December 2006 and for another 2.5 years at the Prague Congress in 2009. In 2010, the Foundation for European Progressive Studies was founded as the foundation of the PES. The Party of European Socialists held its latest Congress in Brussels on 28–29 September 2012 and these congresses are organized every two and a half years, once during the year of the elections for the European Parliament, and once at mid-term. The same Congress elected Achim Post as new Secretary General, the congress also adopted a process presented by the PES as more democratic and transparent for the selection of their candidate for the Presidency of the European Commission in 2014. Presidents of the Party of European Socialists and its predecessors, there are thirty-three full member parties from all the twenty-eight member states and Norway. There are a further thirteen associate and twelve observer parties, PES is an associated organisation of the Socialist International. Young European Socialists is the organisation of PES and PES Women is the partys womens organisation. The parties meet at the party Congress twice every five years to decide on political orientation, every year that the Congress does not meet, the Council shapes PES policy. The Congress also elects the partys President, Vice Presidents and the Presidency and they may also be joined by the President of the European Parliament, a PES European Commissioner and a representative from associate parties and organisations

11.
Progressive Alliance
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The Progressive Alliance is an international alliance of social-democratic and progressive political parties and organisations founded on 22 May 2013 in Leipzig, Germany. Progressive Alliance comprises 140 members from around the world, gabriel had been critical of the Socialist Internationals admittance and continuing inclusion of undemocratic political movements into the organization. An initial Conference of the Progressive Alliance was held in Rome, Italy on 14–15 December 2012, also present were representatives of the Indian National Congress, the Workers Party of Brazil, and PASOK of Greece. The Dutch Labour Party also supported the formation of the organization, as did the Swiss Socialist Party, the organization stated the aim of becoming the global network of the progressive, democratic, social-democratic, socialist and labour movement. It was reported that representatives of approximately 70 social-democratic political parties from across the world attended the event, the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats group in the European Parliament joined the organization upon its official foundation. Many member parties are affiliated to the Socialist International. On 4–5 December 2014, a Progressive Alliance conference was held in Lisbon for member parties of the S&D group, on 25 April 2016 the organisation held a seminar in São Paulo hosted by the Workers Party of Brazil. The Progressive Alliance lists the parties and organisations which participate in the network, rather than claiming members

12.
Political groups of the European Parliament
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The political groups of the European Parliament are the parliamentary groups of the European Parliament. The European Parliament is unique among supranational assemblies in that its members organise themselves into groups like in traditional national legislatures. The members of other supranational assemblies form national groups, the political groups of the European Parliament are sometimes the formal representation of a European political party in the Parliament. In other cases, they are political coalitions of a number of European parties, national parties and these groups are not parties, but looser coalitions. They are strictly forbidden to campaign during the European elections since this is the responsibility of the Europarties. Each political group is assumed to have a set of core principles, further incentives for co-operating in Groups include financial subsidies from the Parliament and guaranteed seats on committees which are not afforded to Independent MEPs. For a Group to be recognised in the Parliament, it must fulfil the conditions laid down in the relevant European Parliament Rule of Procedure. That Rule lays down the criteria a Group must meet to qualify as a Group. Provided those criteria are met, MEPs can theoretically create any Group they like and this was put to the test when MEPs attempted to create a far-right Group called Identity, Tradition, Sovereignty. This generated controversy and there were concerns about public funds going towards a far-right Group, attempts to block the formation of ITS were unsuccessful, but ITS were blocked from leading positions on committees, a privilege usually afforded to all Groups. Groups may be based around a single European political party or they can more than one European party as well as national parties. Each Group appoints a leader, referred to as a president, co-ordinator or chair, the chairs of each Group meet in the Conference of Presidents to decide what issues will be dealt with at the plenary session of the European Parliament. Groups can table motions for resolutions and table amendments to reports and this is a summary of the standing of existing European Parliament groups, although these are subject to change. The first sitting of the new parliament was on 1 July 2014, major changes compared to the period 2004–2009 are, The formation of a new political group, the European Conservatives and Reformists. This conservative, Eurosceptic group is headed by 26 MEPs from the UKs Conservative Party, the Eurosceptic Independence/Democracy and Union for Europe of the Nations groups suffered heavy losses in the election. On their own they no longer had enough MEPs to form a separate group, MEPs formerly from these groups formed the Europe of Freedom and Democracy group on 1 July 2009. The centre-right European Peoples Party now formed its own group in its entirety. The Democratic Party did not become member of the Party of European Socialists until February 2014, the mandate of previous European Parliament ran from 2004 and 2009

13.
Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats
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The Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats is the political group in the European Parliament of the Party of European Socialists. It adopted its name on 23 June 2009. Centre-left in orientation, the group mostly comprises social-democratic parties, and is affiliated to the Progressive Alliance, until the 1999 European Parliament elections it was the largest group in the Parliament, but since those elections it has constantly been the second-largest group. During the 8th EU Parliament Assembly, the S&D is the only Parliament group with representation from all 28 EU member states. In the European Council,8 out of 28 Heads of State and Government belong to the S&D Group and in the European Commission,8 out of 28 Commissioners come from PES parties. The Socialist Group was one of the first three groups to be created when it was founded on 23 June 1953 in the Common Assembly of the European Coal, the Common Assembly was the predecessor of the European Parliament. A group bureau and secretariat was established in Luxembourg, in 1987, the Single European Act came into force and the group began co-operation with the European Peoples Party to secure the majorities needed under the cooperation procedure. The left–right coalition between the Socialists and EPP has dominated the Parliament since then and the post of President of the Parliament has been split between the two groups ever since, the Confederation was succeeded by the Party of European Socialists, in 1992. As a result, the group was renamed the Group of the Party of European Socialists on 21 April 1993. In 1999, the Parliament refused to approve the Santer Commissions handling of the EU budget, allegations of corruption centred on two PES Commissioners, Édith Cresson and Manuel Marín. The group initially supported the Commission but later withdrew their support, in 2007, the Socialist Group was the second largest group in Parliament, with MEPs from all but two member states, Latvia and Cyprus. However, the 2009 European election saw a reduction in the number of PES MEPs returned from 2004, the group sought additional members in the Democratic Party of Italy, which was not affiliated to the PES in 2009. By the conclusion of the 2004-2009 parliamentary term, the Democratic Party had 8 MEPs in the Socialist Group, but also had 8 MEPs in ALDE Group. The Democratic Party is a big tent centre-left party, strongly influenced by social democracy and the Christian left, so a new and more inclusive group name had to be found. The group was going to be named Alliance of Socialists and Democrats for Europe but this was seemed too similar to Alliance of Liberals, the name Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats was suggested on 18 June by group president Martin Schulz and it was renamed on 23 June 2009. The English abbreviation was initially unclear, being reported as PASD or S&D Group or PASDE. The S&D Group joined the Progressive Alliance upon its foundation on 22 May 2013 and is a member of the organisations board. The group was formerly an Associated Organisation of the Socialist International, for Presidents of the European Parliament from the group, see President of the European Parliament

14.
Red
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Red is the color at the longer-wavelengths end of the spectrum of visible light next to orange, at the opposite end from violet. Red color has a predominant light wavelength of roughly 620–740 nanometers, light with a longer wavelength than red but shorter than terahertz radiation and microwave is called infrared. Red is one of the secondary colors, resulting from the combination of yellow. Traditionally, it was viewed as a primary colour, along with yellow and blue, in the RYB color space and traditional color wheel formerly used by painters. Reds can vary in shade from light pink to very dark maroon or burgundy. Red is the color of cyan. In nature, the red color of blood comes from hemoglobin, the red color of the Grand Canyon and other geological features is caused by hematite or red ochre, both forms of iron oxide. It also causes the red color of the planet Mars, the color of autumn leaves is caused by pigments called anthocyanins, which are produced towards the end of summer, when the green chlorophyll is no longer produced. One to two percent of the population has red hair, the color is produced by high levels of the reddish pigment pheomelanin. Since red is the color of blood, it has historically been associated with sacrifice, danger, modern surveys in the United States and Europe show red is also the color most commonly associated with heat, activity, passion, sexuality, anger, love and joy. In China, India and many other Asian countries it is the color of symbolizing happiness, since the 19th century, red has also been associated with socialism and communism. The word red is derived from the Old English rēad, the word can be further traced to the Proto-Germanic rauthaz and the Proto-Indo European root rewdʰ-. In Sanskrit, the word means red or blood. In the Akkadian language of Ancient Mesopotamia and in the modern Inuit language of Inuit, the words for colored in Latin and Spanish both also mean red. In Portuguese the word for red is vermelho, which comes from Latin vermiculus, in the Russian language, the word for red, Кра́сный, comes from the same old Slavic root as the words for beautiful—красивый and excellent—прекрасный. Thus Red Square in Moscow, named long before the Russian Revolution, in heraldry, the word gules is used for red. Red can vary in hue from orange-red to violet-red, and for each hue there is a variety of shades and tints. Red hematite powder was found scattered around the remains at a grave site in a Zhoukoudian cave complex near Beijing

15.
Green
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Green is the color between blue and yellow on the spectrum of visible light. It is evoked by light with a predominant wavelength of roughly 495–570 nm, the modern English word green comes from the Middle English and Anglo-Saxon word grene, from the same Germanic root as the words grass and grow. It is the color of living grass and leaves and as a result is the color most associated with springtime, growth, by far the largest contributor to green in nature is chlorophyll, the chemical by which plants photosynthesize and convert sunlight into chemical energy. Many creatures have adapted to their environments by taking on a green hue themselves as camouflage. Several minerals have a color, including the emerald, which is colored green by its chromium content. In surveys made in Europe and the United States, green is the color most commonly associated with nature, life, health, youth, spring, hope and envy. In Europe and the U. S. green is associated with death, sickness, or the devil. In the Middle Ages and Renaissance, when the color of clothing showed the social status, green was worn by merchants, bankers. The Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci wears green, showing she is not from a noble family, Green is also the traditional color of safety and permission, a green light means go ahead, a green card permits permanent residence in the United States. It is the most important color in Islam and it was the color of the banner of Muhammad, and is found in the flags of nearly all Islamic countries, and represents the lush vegetation of Paradise. It is also associated with the culture of Gaelic Ireland. Because of its association with nature, it is the color of the environmental movement, political groups advocating environmental protection and social justice describe themselves as part of the Green movement, some naming themselves Green parties. This has led to campaigns in advertising, as companies have sold green, or environmentally friendly. The word green comes from the Middle English and Old English word grene, which, like the German word grün, has the same root as the words grass and grow. It is from a Common Germanic *gronja-, which is reflected in Old Norse grænn, Old High German gruoni, ultimately from a PIE root *ghre- to grow. The first recorded use of the word as a term in Old English dates to ca. Latin with viridis also has a genuine and widely used term for green, related to virere to grow and ver spring, it gave rise to words in several Romance languages, French vert, Italian verde. Likewise the Slavic languages with zelenъ, Ancient Greek also had a term for yellowish, pale green – χλωρός, chloros, cognate with χλοερός verdant and χλόη the green of new growth

16.
Chamber of Deputies (Italy)
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The Chamber of Deputies is a house of the bicameral Parliament of Italy. The two houses form a perfect bicameral system, meaning they perform identical functions, but do so separately. Pursuant to article 56 of the Italian Constitution, the Chamber of Deputies has 630 seats, of which 618 are elected from Italian constituencies, Deputies are styled The Honourable and meet at Palazzo Montecitorio. Previously, the seat of the Chamber of Deputies of the Kingdom of Italy had been briefly at the Palazzo Carignano in Turin and the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. Under the Fascist regime of Benito Mussolini, from 1939 to 1943, the Chamber is composed of all members meeting in session at the Montecitorio. The assembly also has the right to meetings of the Government. If required, the Government is obligated to attend the session, conversely, the Government has the right to be heard every time it requires. The term of office of the House is five years,61.2 of the Constitution, states that representatives whose term has expired shall continue to exercise their functions until the first meeting of the new Chamber. An extension of the term, provided for by art,60.2, can be enacted only in case of war. Election of members to the Chamber of Deputies is by voluntary, universal, terms last for a total of five years, unless an early dissolution of the Chamber is called by the President of the Republic, at which point a snap election is held. Unlike the Senate, which members to be 40 years of age. The current system for elections to the Chamber of Deputies has been in operation since 2015, the territory of Italy is divided into 100 constituencies electing between 3 and 9 deputies depending on their size. For each constituency, the parties designate a list of candidates, head of list candidates can run in up to 10 constituencies, if two preference votes are expressed, they must be of a different sex, otherwise, the second preference is discarded. Only parties passing a 3% minimum threshold in the first round are assigned seats, if the party receiving the plurality of the votes passes a 40% threshold, it is attributed a minimum of 340 seats. The remaining 277 seats are allocated to the other parties using the largest remainder method. This provision was however rendered null and void by a Constitutional Courts judgment in January 2017, the President of the Chamber of Deputies performs the role of speaker of the house and is elected during the first session after the election. During this time the prerogatives of speaker are assumed by the vicepresident of Chamber of Deputies of the legislature who was elected first. If two were elected simultaneously, the oldest deputy serves as president of Chamber of Deputies, the President of Chamber of Deputies has also the role of President during the Parliament joint sessions, when the upper and lower houses have to vote together

17.
Senate of the Republic (Italy)
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The Senate of the Republic is a house of the bicameral Italian Parliament. The two houses form a perfect bicameral system, meaning they perform identical functions, but do so separately. Members of the Senate are styled Senator or The Honourable Senator and they meet at Palazzo Madama, the Senate consists of 315 elected members, and as of 2016 five senators for life. The elected senators must be over 40 years of age and are elected by Italian citizens aged 25 or older, the Senate is elected on a regional basis. The 309 senators are assigned to each region according to their population. However, Article 57 of the Constitution provides that no region can have fewer than seven senators representing it, except for the Aosta Valley and Molise. The five current life senators are, The current term of the Senate is five years, until a Constitutional change on February 9,1963, the Senate was elected for six-year terms. The Senate may be dissolved before the expiration of its normal term by the President of the Republic, in 2016, Italian Parliament passed a constitutional law that effectively abolishes the Senate as an elected chamber and sharply restricts its ability to veto legislation. The law was rejected on December 4,2016 by a referendum, the election of the Senate is still regulated by Law no. 270, December 21,2005, which however was judged to be partly unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court in December 2013, in each Region, except for three, at least 55% of the seats are assigned to the coalition or list which received the most votes. The Aosta Valley elects one senator, so it uses a first past the post system, Molise elects two senators with a proportional system. Trentino-South Tyrol uses a mixed member system, it elects 6 senators in first past the post constituencies. That session, presided by the oldest senator, proceeds to elect the President of the Senate for the parliamentary period. On the first two attempts at voting, a majority of all senators is needed, if a third round is needed. If this third round fails to produce a winner, a ballot is held between the two senators with the highest votes in the previous ballot. In the case of a tie, the senator is deemed the winner. The current President of the Senate is Pietro Grasso, recent Presidents of the Italian Senate, Since 1871, the Senate has met in Palazzo Madama in Rome, an old patrician palace completed in 1505 for the Medici family. The palace takes its name from Madama Margherita of Austria, daughter of Charles V, after the extinction of the Medici, the palace was handed over to the House of Lorraine

18.
European Parliament
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The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union. Together with the Council of the European Union and the European Commission, the Parliament is composed of 751 members, who represent the second-largest democratic electorate in the world and the largest trans-national democratic electorate in the world. It has been elected every five years by universal suffrage since 1979. However, voter turnout at European Parliament elections has fallen consecutively at each election since that date, voter turnout in 2014 stood at 42. 54% of all European voters. The Parliament is the first institution of the EU, and shares equal legislative and it likewise has equal control over the EU budget. Finally, the European Commission, the body of the EU, is accountable to Parliament. In particular, Parliament elects the President of the Commission, and it can subsequently force the Commission as a body to resign by adopting a motion of censure. The President of the European Parliament is Antonio Tajani, elected in January 2017 and he presides over a multi-party chamber, the two largest groups being the Group of the European Peoples Party and the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats. The last union-wide elections were the 2014 elections, the European Parliament has three places of work – Brussels, the city of Luxembourg and Strasbourg. Luxembourg is home to the administrative offices, meetings of the whole Parliament take place in Strasbourg and in Brussels. Committee meetings are held in Brussels, the Parliament, like the other institutions, was not designed in its current form when it first met on 10 September 1952. One of the oldest common institutions, it began as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and it was a consultative assembly of 78 appointed parliamentarians drawn from the national parliaments of member states, having no legislative powers. Its development since its foundation shows how the European Unions structures have evolved without a master plan. Some, such as Tom Reid of the Washington Post, said of the union, nobody would have designed a government as complex. Even the Parliaments two seats, which have switched several times, are a result of various agreements or lack of agreements, the body was not mentioned in the original Schuman Declaration. It was assumed or hoped that difficulties with the British would be resolved to allow the Council of Europes Assembly to perform the task, a separate Assembly was introduced during negotiations on the Treaty as an institution which would counterbalance and monitor the executive while providing democratic legitimacy. The wording of the ECSC Treaty demonstrated the desire for more than a normal consultative assembly by using the term representatives of the people. Its early importance was highlighted when the Assembly was given the task of drawing up the treaty to establish a European Political Community

19.
Politics of Italy
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Politics of Italy is conducted through a constitutional republic with a multi-party system. The executive power is exercised collectively by the Council of Ministers, legislative power is vested in the two houses of parliament primarily, and secondarily on the Council of Ministers, which can introduce bills and holds the majority in the parliament. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislative branches and it is headed by the High Council of the Judiciary. The president is the head of state, though his position is separate from all branches, the current President is Sergio Mattarella and the current Prime Minister of Italy is Paolo Gentiloni. Article 1 of the Italian Constitution states Italy is a democratic Republic founded on labour, sovereignty belongs to the people and is exercised by the people in the forms and within the limits of the Constitution. By stating that Italy is a republic, the article solemnly declares the results of the constitutional referendum which took place on 2 June 1946. The State is not a property of the ruling monarch. The people who are called to administer the republic are not owners, but servants, and the governed are not subjects. And the sovereignty, that is the power to make choices that involve the community, belongs to the people, in accordance with the concept of a democracy, from the Greek demos. This power, however, is not to be exercised arbitrarily, as the head of state, the President of the Republic represents the unity of the nation and has many of the duties previously given to the king of Italy. The President serves as a point of connection between the three branches, he is elected by the lawmakers, he appoints the executive, and is the president of the judiciary, the president is also commander-in-chief in the time of war. These delegates are elected by their respective Regional Councils so as to guarantee representation to minorities, the election needs a wide majority that is progressively reduced from two-thirds to one-half plus one of the votes after the third ballot. The only Presidents ever to be elected on the first ballot are Francesco Cossiga, mr. Ciampi was replaced by Giorgio Napolitano, who was elected on 10 May 2006. While it is not forbidden by law, no president had ever served two terms, until 20 April 2013, when president Giorgio Napolitano was re-elected. According to the Constitution, any citizen that is fifty on the day of the election, the President cannot hold office in any other branch of power, and the offices salary and privileges are established by law. The President also presides over the High Council of the Judiciary, usually, the President tries to stay out of the political debate, and to be an institutional guarantee for all those involved in the political process. The president can also reject openly anti-constitutional acts as the guardian of the Constitution of Italy, with article 48 of the Constitution, which guarantees the right to vote, the people exercise their power through their elected representatives in the Parliament. The Italian legislative branch has rights to declare war with a majority vote, the Parliament has a bicameral system, and consists of the Chamber of deputies and the Senate, elected every five years

20.
List of political parties in Italy
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Political parties in Italy are numerous and there are hundreds of parties which are no longer active. Since World War II, no party has gained enough support to govern alone. Parties thus form political alliances and coalition governments, in November 2013 The People of Freedom was dissolved and merged into the new Forza Italia, provoking the formation of the split-away New Centre-Right. In December 2016 Left Ecology Freedom was dissolved in order to part to the formation of Italian Left. Between 1945 and 1994, Italian politics was dominated by two parties, Christian Democracy, the main party of government, and the Italian Communist Party. The other opposition party was the post-fascist Italian Social Movement, for 46 consecutive years, the Christian Democrats led the government except for five years. Between 1983 and 1991, they led a government with the Socialists, the Republicans, the Democratic Socialists. These were the years when several regional parties demanding autonomy organised themselves at the regional level. In 1991 they federated themselves into the Northern League, which became the fourth largest party in the 1992 general election. In 1992–94, the system was shaken by a series of corruption scandals known collectively as Tangentopoli. These events led to the disappearance of the five parties of government, consequently, the Communists, who had evolved to become Democratic Party of the Left in 1991, and the post-fascists, who launched National Alliance in 1994, gained strength. Between 1996 and 2008, Italian political parties were organised into two big coalitions, the centre-right Pole for Freedoms and The Olive Tree on the centre-left. The centre-left governed from 1996 to 2001 and again between 2006 and 2008, while the House of Freedoms was in government between 2001 and 2006. In 2008 The Union ceased to exist as the newly founded Democratic Party decided to break the alliance with its left-wing partners, notably including the Communist Refoundation Party. On the centre-right, Forza Italia and National Alliance merged to form The People of Freedom, in November 2013 The People of Freedom was dissolved and merged into the new Forza Italia, provoking the formation of the split-away New Centre-Right. In December 2016 Left Ecology Freedom was dissolved in order to part to the formation of Italian Left

21.
Elections in Italy
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The President of the Republic is elected for a seven-year term by the two houses of Parliament in joint session. Italy has historically had many parties, both national and regional, with different party systems. The most recent Italian general election was held on 24 and 25 February 2013, on 24 April 2013, Napolitano, gave the task to form a new government to the Deputy-Secretary of the Democratic Party, Enrico Letta. On 28 April he sworn in as Prime Minister, the voter turnout in 2013 explains how the people of Italy really feel about the instability of their government. This graph shows the results of elections held in Italy from 1946 to today, with the percentages of consensus gathered by the various parties, passing your mouse over the different colored sections will display the name of the grouping and the percentage in the corresponding election. Clicking on a region will direct you to the article on the party or election selected, the constitution of Italy provides for two kinds of binding referendums. A legislative referendum can be called in order to abrogate a law totally or partially and this kind of referendum is valid only if at least a majority of electors goes to the polling station. It is forbidden to call a referendum regarding financial laws or laws relating to pardons or the ratification of international treaties, a constitutional referendum is valid no matter how many electors go to the polling station. Any citizen entitled to vote in an election to the Chamber of Deputies may participate in a referendum

22.
Italian language
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By most measures, Italian, together with Sardinian, is the closest to Latin of the Romance languages. Italian is a language in Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City. Italian is spoken by minorities in places such as France, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Crimea and Tunisia and by large expatriate communities in the Americas. Many speakers are native bilinguals of both standardized Italian and other regional languages, Italian is the fourth most studied language in the world. Italian is a major European language, being one of the languages of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. It is the third most widely spoken first language in the European Union with 65 million native speakers, including Italian speakers in non-EU European countries and on other continents, the total number of speakers is around 85 million. Italian is the working language of the Holy See, serving as the lingua franca in the Roman Catholic hierarchy as well as the official language of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Italian is known as the language of music because of its use in musical terminology and its influence is also widespread in the arts and in the luxury goods market. Italian has been reported as the fourth or fifth most frequently taught foreign language in the world, Italian was adopted by the state after the Unification of Italy, having previously been a literary language based on Tuscan as spoken mostly by the upper class of Florentine society. Its development was influenced by other Italian languages and to some minor extent. Its vowels are the second-closest to Latin after Sardinian, unlike most other Romance languages, Italian retains Latins contrast between short and long consonants. As in most Romance languages, stress is distinctive, however, Italian as a language used in Italy and some surrounding regions has a longer history. What would come to be thought of as Italian was first formalized in the early 14th century through the works of Tuscan writer Dante Alighieri, written in his native Florentine. Dante is still credited with standardizing the Italian language, and thus the dialect of Florence became the basis for what would become the language of Italy. Italian was also one of the recognised languages in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Italy has always had a dialect for each city, because the cities. Those dialects now have considerable variety, as Tuscan-derived Italian came to be used throughout Italy, features of local speech were naturally adopted, producing various versions of Regional Italian. Even in the case of Northern Italian languages, however, scholars are not to overstate the effects of outsiders on the natural indigenous developments of the languages

23.
Democratic Party (Italy) leadership election, 2013
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The 2013 Democratic Party leadership election was an open primary election held in November–December 2013. After having come first in the vote by party members, Matteo Renzi was elected by a landslide 68% in a primary on 8 December. Candidates were required to file their candidacies by 11 October 2013, between 14 October and 6 November local and provincial conventions took place all around the country. Between 7 and 17 November party members voted on the candidates for secretary, the national convention, which took place on 24–25 November, declared the candidates who will run in an open primary on 8 December. Voters will elect also the national assembly of the party and the secretaries and assemblies. If no candidate got more than 50% of the vote, a run-off between the two most voted candidates would take place in the assembly, scheduled within two weeks from the primary election. As such, he was compared to Tony Blair, the key figure of New Labour. Elected mayor of Florence in 2009, Renzi had come to notoriety as the Scrapper of the partys establishment. Source, Official results Renzi, Cuperlo and Civati were admitted to the primary election, source, Semi-official results Renzi won an absolute majority in all regions. Only among voters living abroad he won merely a plurality and his strongest performances were in his homeregion Tuscany and neighbouring Marche and Umbria, the weakest in Sardinia. Cuperlo performed strongest in the regions of Calabria and Basilicata. Civati had his strongest results among expatriates, in Aosta Valley, Trentino and Sardinia, generally speaking, Renzi and Civati did better in central–northern Italy, Cuperlo in the South. Official website of the Democratic Party Official website of the leadership election

24.
The Olive Tree (Italy)
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The Olive Tree was a denomination used for several successive centre-left political and electoral alliances of Italian political parties from 1995 to 2007. On 21 April 1996, The Olive Tree won 1996 general election in alliance with the Communist Refoundation Party, on 9 October 1998, the Prodi I Cabinet fell when PRC left the alliance. Since 21 October 1998 The Olive Tree was the core of the led by Massimo DAlema. When DAlema became Prime Minister, it was the first time ever in Italy, on 13 May 2001, led by Francesco Rutelli, who ran in ticket with Piero Fassino, the coalition lost the general elections against Silvio Berlusconi and his House of Freedoms centre-right coalition. On 10 February 2005, the name and logo of that larger electoral coalition was presented and it comprised the Federation of The Olive Tree, the Communist Refoundation Party, the Party of Italian Communists, Italy of Values, the Federation of the Greens and other minor parties. The Democrats of the Left, Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy, also the Italian Democratic Socialist Party and The Italian Socialists had candidates in the list. DS and DL were heavily involved in the foundation of a new unitary party, the Democratic Party. This party was founded on 14 October 2007 and Walter Veltroni was elected party leader by voters in an open primary, Italy Between Europeanization and Domestic Politics. Centre-left coalition Official website of the Democratic Party Italys Olive Tree, article by The Nation

25.
The Union (Italy)
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The Union was an heterogenous centre-left political and electoral alliance of political parties in Italy. The Union was led by Romano Prodi, Prime Minister of Italy from April 2006 to April 2008, the Union was the direct heir of The Olive Tree coalition which represented the centre-left in the 1996 and 2001 general elections. However, The Union also included parties of the radical left, the parties which were part of the coalition for most of the time are, DS, DL and MRE contested elections as The Olive Tree federation. The Democratic Party, a merger of DS and DL, replaced its predecessor parties as a member of The Union upon its foundation in October 2007, also during that time, the SDI became the Socialist Party. As of 2005, the coalition was assumed to be led by Prodi, primary elections were a novelty in Italian politics, as the proportional system in place until the early 1990s was supposed to present sufficient variety to electors. With the new electoral system, two clear blocks emerged since 1996. The primary elections for The Union took place on 16 October 2005, the institute of primary election came under criticism from some centre-left moderates, as in their opinion it had produced a useless candidate doomed to failure. When the primary elections were first proposed, they were meant as a plebiscite for Romano Prodi. The secretary of the Communist Refoundation Party, Fausto Bertinotti, then announced he would run for the leadership, even if only to act as a symbolic candidate, after some time, more candidates were presented. The seven candidates for the leadership of The Union were, in the order in which appear on the electoral ballot, Fausto Bertinotti. Antonio Di Pietro, former prosecutor in the Mani Pulite investigation. Ivan Scalfarotto, a living in London and a blogger. The faceless candidate, formally represented in person by Simona Panzino and this was a symbolic candidate from the anti-globalization movement. Some priests close to these movements were initially suggested for the name to place on the ballots. Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio, secretary of the Federation of the Greens, other than environmentalism, he had a civil rights-oriented and pacifist agenda. Romano Prodi, leader of The Olive Tree coalition, former Prime Minister of Italy, Prodi was supported by DS, DL and PdCI. Clemente Mastella, leader of the Union of Democrats for Europe, a former ally of Silvio Berlusconi, he was considered the most Catholic and centrist candidate. The primary election had been held nationwide on 16 October 2005, Most of the party leaders claimed a result of 1 million voters would be a good success for the election

26.
Italian general election, 2006
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The 2006 Italian general election for the two Chambers of the Italian Parliament was held on 9 and 10 April 2006. Romano Prodi, leader of the centre-left coalition The Union, narrowly defeated the incumbent Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, initial exit polls suggested a victory for Prodi, but the results narrowed as the count progressed. On 11 April 2006, Prodi declared victory, Berlusconi never conceded defeat explicitly, preliminary results showed The Union leading the House of Freedoms in the Chamber of Deputies, with 340 seats to 277, thanks to obtaining a majority bonus. One more seat is allied with The Union and 7 more seats in the foreign constituency. The House of Freedoms had secured a majority of Senate seats elected within Italy. Even so, Berlusconi refused to concede defeat, claiming unproven fraud, the House of Freedoms was the coalition supporting the incumbent government led by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, and mainly included the same parties as in the previous general election. The NPSI contested the election with a joint list with the Christian Democracy for the Autonomies, on 27 October 2005, Lorenzo Cesa was appointed as new UDC secretary, becoming the successor of Follini himself. The coalition announced a system, meaning that the Prime Ministerial candidate will be the political leader, among Casini, Fini and Berlusconi. Since Berlusconis party was known to be by far the largest one, prodis candidacy was confirmed by a national primary election, held on 16 October 2005. The former coalition was enlarged in order to cover the whole ensemble of Italian centre-left to left-wing factions, however, Bobo Craxi was able to enter in the Lower House, as he was one of the leading candidates for The Olive Tree in Lombardy. The Union is also supported by a number of parties and movements. For some time, Silvio Berlusconi had challenged Romano Prodi to a debate on national television, Prodi, however, said he would accept only if certain rules had been set. Possibly because he thought he was behind in the polls, Berlusconi saw the debate as a chance to turn the tables and it is notable that, in the 2001 elections, it was Berlusconi who refused to meet the centre-left candidate, Francesco Rutelli. Two televised debates were set by the Parliamentary Committee of Inspection on RAI, however, Prodi contested the deliberation of this Committee, which allowed Berlusconi to also hold a final televised speech after the debates as Prime Minister. Prodi refused to participate in any debate until this final speech had been cancelled, the issue was resolved on 3 March, when Berlusconi finally agreed to cancel the final speech. The debates lasted about 90 minutes each, did not include commercials, and had a time for each answer and each reply. The candidates were forbidden to bring any kind of notes with them, even though they could write some down during the debate. This set of rules was very unusual in Italian political talk shows, at the end of the debates, the candidates are allowed to make a final statement of 3 minutes

27.
Italian Communist Party
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The Italian Communist Party was a communist political party in Italy. The PCI was founded as Communist Party of Italy on 21 January 1921 in Livorno, Amadeo Bordiga and Antonio Gramsci led the split. Outlawed during the Fascist regime, the party played a part in the Italian resistance movement. It changed its name in 1943 to PCI and became the second largest political party of Italy after World War II, at the time it was the largest communist party in the West. The more radical members of the party left to form the Communist Refoundation Party, the PCI participated to its first general election in 1921, obtaining 4. 6% of the vote and 15 seats in the Chamber of Deputies. In 1926, the Fascist government of Benito Mussolini outlawed the PCI, although forced underground, the PCI maintained a clandestine presence within Italy during the years of the Fascist regime. Many of its leaders were also active in exile, during its first year as a banned party, Antonio Gramsci defeated the partys left wing, led by Amadeo Bordiga. Gramsci replaced Bordigas leadership at a conference in Lyon, and issued a manifesto expressing the programmatic basis of the party, however, Gramsci soon found himself jailed by Mussolinis regime, and the leadership of the party passed to Palmiro Togliatti. Togliatti would lead the party until it emerged from suppression in 1944, the communists contribution to the new Italian democratic constitution was decisive. The Gullo decrees of 1944, for instance, sought to improve social, in the first general elections of 1948 the party joined the PSI in the Popular Democratic Front, but was defeated by the Christian Democracy party. The party gained considerable success during the following years and occasionally supplied external support to centre-left governments. It successfully lobbied Fiat to set up the AvtoVAZ car factory in the Soviet Union, the party did best in Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany and Umbria, where it regularly won the local administrative elections, and in some of the industrialized cities of Northern Italy. At the city government level during the course of the period, the PCI demonstrated their capacity for uncorrupt, efficient. After the elections of 1975, the PCI was the strongest force in all of the municipal councils of the great cities. The PCIs municipal showcase was Bologna, which was held continuously by the PCI from 1945 onwards, from 1946 to 1956, the Communist city council built 31 nursery schools,896 flats, and 9 schools. Health care improved substantially, street lighting was installed, new drains and municipal launderettes were built, in 1972, the then-mayor of Bologna, Renato Zangheri, introduced a new and innovative traffic plan with strict limitations for private vehicles and a renewed concentration on cheap public transport. Bolognas social services continued to expand throughout the early and mid-Seventies, communists administrations at a local level also helped to aid new businesses while also introducing innovative social reforms. The Soviet Unions brutal suppression of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 created a split within the PCI, the party leadership, including Palmiro Togliatti and Giorgio Napolitano, regarded the Hungarian insurgents as counter-revolutionaries, as reported at the time in lUnità, the official PCI newspaper

28.
Christian Democracy (Italy)
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Christian Democracy was a Christian democratic political party in Italy. The DC was founded in 1943 as the successor of the Italian Peoples Party, which had the same symbol. The party was nicknamed the White Whale, from 1946 until 1994 the DC was the largest party in Parliament, governing in successive coalitions. It originally supported governments based on political positions, before moving to centre-left coalitions. The party was succeeded by a string of parties, including the Italian Peoples Party, the Christian Democratic Centre, the United Christian Democrats. Former Christian Democrats are also spread among other parties, including the centre-right Forza Italia and the New Centre-Right, the DC was a founding member of the European Peoples Party in 1976. The party was founded as the revival of the Italian Peoples Party, a party created in 1919 by Luigi Sturzo. In December 1945 Christian Democrat Alcide De Gasperi was appointed Prime Minister of Italy, in the 1946 general election the DC won 35. 2% of the vote. In May 1947 De Gasperi broke decisively with his Communist and Socialist coalition partners under pressure from U. S. President Harry Truman. This opened the way for a centrist coalition that included the Italian Workers Socialist Party, a centrist break-away from the PSI, as well as its allies, the PLI. In the 1948 general election the DC went on to win a victory, with the support of the Catholic Church and the United States. Under De Gasperi, major reforms were carried out in the poorer rural regions in the early postwar years, with farms appropriated from the large landowners. De Gasperi served as Prime Minister until 1953 and would die a year later. No Christian Democrat would match his longevity in office and, despite the fact that DCs share of vote was always between 38 and 43% from 1953 to 1979, the party was more and more fractious, as a result, Prime Ministers changed more frequently. From 1954 the DC was led by progressive Christian Democrats, such as Amintore Fanfani, Aldo Moro and Benigno Zaccagnini, supported by the influential left-wing factions. In 1963 the party, under Prime Minister Aldo Moro, formed a coalition with the PSI, which returned to ministerial roles after 16 years, the PSDI, similar Organic Centre-left governments became usual through the 1960s and the 1970s. From 1976 to 1979 the DC governed with the support of the PCI. Moro, who was the party leader and who had inspired the Compromise, was abducted and murdered by the Red Brigades

29.
The Democrats (Italy)
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The Democrats were a centrist and social-liberal political party in Italy. The party was launched in 1999 by Romano Prodi, a few months after his dismissal as Prime Minister and leader of The Olive Tree centre-left coalition, three parties merged into The Democrats, the Democratic Union, Italy of Values and The Network. Also splinters from the Italian Peoples Party joined, in 2002 The Democrats were merged into Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy, which would be merged into the Democratic Party in 2007. Clubs for Prodi and the Citizens for The Olive Tree association were organised, the Olive Tree won the election, the PPI–UD joint list obtained 6. 8% of the vote, and Prodi was sworn in as Prime Minister, at the head of the Prodi I Cabinet. After being ousted as Prime Minister and replaced by Massimo DAlema in November 1998, after a few months after the partys foundation, Prodi gave way to his close associate Arturo Parisi as president. Prodi led The Democrats to a result in the 1999 European Parliament election. Six Democratic MEPs were elected, Cacciari, Di Pietro, Rutelli, Paolo Costa, Pietro Mennea, in September Prodi was appointed President of the European Commission. Of these, all but the latter would be confirmed in Amato II Cabinet, which was formed in April 2000, in early 2000 Parisi asked the Democrats of the Left, then led by Walter Veltroni, to dissolve into a new Democratic Party. The list, which gained a success, was transformed into a party in March 2002 under the name of Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy. This party, led by Rutelli, would be merged into the Democratic Party in October 2007. Several party members were either former Christian Democrats, while others were formerly affiliated to the Italian Republican Party. The ideology of the party ranged from Prodis social Catholicism to Rutellis. At the European level, The Democrats were affiliated to the European Liberal Democrat, the party was fervently Olivist and Europeanist, while also favouring the establishment of a two-party system. The name and symbol of the party were a reference to the Democratic Party of the United States. President, Romano Prodi, Arturo Parisi Official website

30.
Third Way
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The Third Way is promoted by some social democratic and social liberal movements. Major Third Way social democratic proponent Tony Blair claimed that the socialism he advocated was different from conceptions of socialism. Blair said My kind of socialism is a set of values based around notions of social justice, socialism as a rigid form of economic determinism has ended, and rightly. Blair in 2009 publicly declared support for a new capitalism, the Third Way has been criticized by some conservatives and libertarians who advocate laissez-faire capitalism. It has also heavily criticized by many social democrats, democratic socialists, anarchists and communists in particular as a betrayal of left-wing values. Specific definitions of Third Way policies may differ between Europe and America, the term Third Way has been used to explain a variety of political courses and ideologies in the last few centuries. These ideas were implemented by progressives in the early 20th century, the term Third Way was picked up again in the 1950s by German ordoliberal economists such as Wilhelm Röpke, resulting in the development of the concept of the social market economy. Later Röpke distanced himself from the term and located the market economy as first way in the sense of an advancement of the free market economy. Most significantly, Harold Macmillan, British Prime Minister from 1957 to 1963, based his philosophy of government on what he entitled in a book, the Third Way has been defined as. Something different and distinct from liberal capitalism with its belief in the merits of the free market and democratic socialism with its demand management. Anthony Giddens of the LSE the Third Way rejects top down socialism as it rejects traditional neo liberalism, a variant of the Third Way exists which approaches the centre from a social democratic perspective. It advocates ethical socialism, reformism, gradualism - that includes advocating the humanization of capitalism, an economy, political pluralism. It has been advocated by proponents as a competition socialism - an ideology in between traditional socialism and capitalism, in defining the Third Way, Tony Blair once wrote “The Third Way stands for a modernized social democracy, passionate in its commitment to social justice. Keating also proposed a Goods and Services Tax in 1985, however this was scrapped due to its unpopularity amongst both Labor and electorate, the Whitlam government was first to use the term economic rationalism. The Gough Whitlam Labor government from 1972 to 1975 changed from a democratic socialism platform to social democracy, under the Whitlam government, tariffs across the board were cut by 25 percent after 23 years of Labor being in opposition. Former Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudds first speech to parliament in 1998 stated, Competitive markets are massive and they must therefore have a central place in the management of the economy. But markets sometimes fail, requiring direct government intervention through instruments such as industry policy, there are also areas where the public good dictates that there should be no market at all. We are not afraid of a vision in the Labor Party, parties of the Centre Left around the world are wrestling with a similar challenge—the creation of a competitive economy while advancing the overriding imperative of a just society

31.
Italian general election, 2013
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Close behind, the new anti-establishment Five Star Movement of comedian Beppe Grillo became the third force, clearly ahead of the centrist coalition of outgoing Prime Minister Mario Monti. In the Senate, no group or party won an outright majority. Eventually a coalition between the centre-left, centre and centre-right was formed, following the European sovereign debt crisis, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi resigned from his position in November 2011. He was replaced as Prime Minister by technocratic Senator for Life Mario Monti, in December 2012, Berlusconi announced his intention to run for Prime Minister for a sixth time. The Constitution of Italy then requires an election to be held within 70 days of the dissolution of parliament by President Giorgio Napolitano, during Montis tenure, Italy had faced tax increases and state spending cuts, as well as reforms intended to improve the competitiveness of the Italian economy. In the approximately one year since Monti took office, unemployment rose by almost two percent, previously Monti had controversially told the rising tide of youth unemployment to forget about a steady job for life, saying such is monotonous its nice to change and take on challenges. The same reforms and austerity-focused policies which upset many Italians are perceived to have improved international confidence in Italy, Monti was supported by other Eurozone leaders, such as Germanys Angela Merkel and former French President Nicolas Sarkozy. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble added that he did not foresee any destabilisation in the eurozone expect Italy to keep going forward by respecting its European commitments. Montis statement that he would resign after the budget was passed, was suggested by Reuters to be indicative of him seeking to run for office. The two largest parties in parliament, the PdL and the Democratic Party said they would be willing to work together to expedite passage of the budget, Bersani had won the centre-left primary election shortly before the PdL withdrew from the government. Following a defeat in the primary, Mayor of Florence Matteo Renzi ruled out an approach, in writing, in the following weeks, both PD and Left Ecology Freedom announced their intention to hold primary elections for MP candidates on 29 and 30 December. A few days later, Monti published a political agenda for Italy, dubbed the Monti agenda, after the Third Pole promptly agreed to use it as their own platform for the upcoming elections, talks started regarding a direct involvement of Monti as premiership candidate. Berlusconi said the platform his party would run on includes opposition to Montis economic performance and he also told the media, on the sidelines of AC Milans practice session, I race to win. To win, everyone there had to be a tested leader. Its not that we did not look for one, but there isnt one. Im doing it out of a sense of responsibility. Berlusconi and Five Star Movement leader Beppe Grillo criticised the eurozone, Grillo wrote that the average Italian is literally terrified about the prospects of five more years of Monti-like rule. On 8 December 2012, a new party formed around a think tank named Fermare il Declino, on an initiative by the economic journalist Oscar Giannino. On 19 December 2012, the name FARE per Fermare il Declino was chosen, and it is led by celebrity magistrate Antonio Ingroia and Mayor of Naples Luigi de Magistris

Matteo Renzi
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Matteo Renzi is an Italian politician who served as the Prime Minister of Italy from February 2014 until December 2016. His government is the fourth longest one in the history of Italy as a republic, Renzi served as President of the Province of Florence from 2004 to 2009 and as Mayor of Florence from 2009 to 2014. At the age of 39 years and 42 days

Matteo Orfini
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Matteo Orfini is an Italian politician, a member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies and President of the Democratic Party. Matteo Orfini was born in Rome in 1974 and he started his interest in politics when he attended the lyceum. In 2004 became a collaborator of the leader, Massimo D’Alema. In 2007 Orfini joined the Democratic Party, becoming the

Democrats of the Left
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The Democrats of the Left was a social-democratic political party in Italy. The DS, successor of the Democratic Party of the Left, a member of The Olive Tree coalition, in October 2007 DS merged with Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy and a number of minor centre-left parties to form the Democratic Party. The DS was successively led by Massimo DAlema

1.
A political placard of the Democrats of the Left.

2.
Democrats of the Left Democratici di Sinistra

Rome
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Rome is a special comune and the capital of Italy. Rome also serves as the capital of the Lazio region, with 2,873,598 residents in 1,285 km2, it is also the countrys largest and most populated comune and fourth-most populous city in the European Union by population within city limits. It is the center of the Metropolitan City of Rome, which has a

Social democracy
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In this period, social democrats embraced a mixed economy based on the predominance of private property, with only a minority of essential utilities and public services under public ownership. By 1868–1869, Marxism had become the official theoretical basis of the first social democratic party established in Europe, in this period, social democracy

1.
Ferdinand Lassalle

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The red rose is a symbol of Social democracy.

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A barricade in Paris in March 1871, set up by revolutionary forces of the Paris Commune

4.
George Bernard Shaw

Christian left
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The term Christian left refers to a spectrum of left-wing Christian political and social movements that largely embrace viewpoints described as social justice that upholds a social gospel. Given the inherent diversity in international political thought, the term can have different meanings, although there is some overlap, the Christian Left is dist

1.
A meeting of the Oxford Branch of the Christian Socialist Movement, with Larry Sanders speaking, October 2007.

Social liberalism
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Social liberalism is a political ideology that believes individual liberty requires a level of social justice. Under social liberalism, the good of the community is viewed as harmonious with the freedom of the individual, Social liberal policies have been widely adopted in much of the capitalist world, particularly following World War II. Social li

1.
L.T. Hobhouse

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T.H. Green

3.
Friedrich Naumann

4.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the 32nd President of the United States, his New Deal domestic policies defined American liberalism for the middle third of the 20th century.

Political spectrum
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A political spectrum is a system of classifying different political positions upon one or more geometric axes that symbolize independent political dimensions. Most long-standing spectra include a wing and left wing, which originally referred to seating arrangements in the French parliament after the Revolution. According to the simplest left–right

1.
A multi-axis political chart, contrasting between libertarian and authoritarian socialism.

European political party
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A European political party is a type of political party organisation operating transnationally in Europe and in the institutions of the European Union. They are regulated and funded by the European Union and are made up of national parties. Europarties have the right to campaign during the European elections and express themselves within the Europe

1.
ESCB

Party of European Socialists
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The Party of European Socialists is a social-democratic European political party. The PES comprises national-level political parties primarily from states of the European Union. The PES member parties are mostly members of the Progressive Alliance or Socialist International. The political group in the European Parliament of the PES is the Progressi

1.
1st Vice-President of the European Commission 1st Vice-President; Better Regulation, Inter-Institutional Relations, the Rule of Law and the Charter of Fundamental Rights

2.
Party of European Socialists

3.
High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy

4.
Energy Union Vice-President; Energy Union

Progressive Alliance
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The Progressive Alliance is an international alliance of social-democratic and progressive political parties and organisations founded on 22 May 2013 in Leipzig, Germany. Progressive Alliance comprises 140 members from around the world, gabriel had been critical of the Socialist Internationals admittance and continuing inclusion of undemocratic pol

1.
Progressive Alliance

Political groups of the European Parliament
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The political groups of the European Parliament are the parliamentary groups of the European Parliament. The European Parliament is unique among supranational assemblies in that its members organise themselves into groups like in traditional national legislatures. The members of other supranational assemblies form national groups, the political gro

1.
ESCB

Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats
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The Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats is the political group in the European Parliament of the Party of European Socialists. It adopted its name on 23 June 2009. Centre-left in orientation, the group mostly comprises social-democratic parties, and is affiliated to the Progressive Alliance, until the 1999 European Parliament elections

1.
Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats

Red
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Red is the color at the longer-wavelengths end of the spectrum of visible light next to orange, at the opposite end from violet. Red color has a predominant light wavelength of roughly 620–740 nanometers, light with a longer wavelength than red but shorter than terahertz radiation and microwave is called infrared. Red is one of the secondary colors

1.
Pure, or solid red, the color of most ripe strawberries.

2.
Red

3.
Scarlet is one quarter of the way between the colors red and orange. It is the color worn by a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church..

4.
The cardinal takes its name from the color worn by Roman Catholic cardinals.

Green
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Green is the color between blue and yellow on the spectrum of visible light. It is evoked by light with a predominant wavelength of roughly 495–570 nm, the modern English word green comes from the Middle English and Anglo-Saxon word grene, from the same Germanic root as the words grass and grow. It is the color of living grass and leaves and as a r

1.
The word green has the same Germanic root as the words for grass and grow.

2.
Green

3.
Emerald green. The Gachala Emerald from the National Museum of Natural History, Washington.

4.
Jade. A jade dragon from the Han Dynasty, China. Jade can be many different shades of green.

Chamber of Deputies (Italy)
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The Chamber of Deputies is a house of the bicameral Parliament of Italy. The two houses form a perfect bicameral system, meaning they perform identical functions, but do so separately. Pursuant to article 56 of the Italian Constitution, the Chamber of Deputies has 630 seats, of which 618 are elected from Italian constituencies, Deputies are styled

2.
Chamber of Deputies Camera dei Deputati

3.
The Palazzo Montecitorio.

4.
Obelisk of Montecitorio. In the background is the Italian Chamber of Deputies

Senate of the Republic (Italy)
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The Senate of the Republic is a house of the bicameral Italian Parliament. The two houses form a perfect bicameral system, meaning they perform identical functions, but do so separately. Members of the Senate are styled Senator or The Honourable Senator and they meet at Palazzo Madama, the Senate consists of 315 elected members, and as of 2016 five

2.
Senate of the Republic Senato della Repubblica

3.
Palazzo Madama as it appeared in 17th century

4.
Palazzo Madama today

European Parliament
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The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union. Together with the Council of the European Union and the European Commission, the Parliament is composed of 751 members, who represent the second-largest democratic electorate in the world and the largest trans-national democratic electorate in the world

2.
European Parliament

3.
Session of the Council of Europe's Assembly in the former House of Europe in Strasbourg in January 1967

Politics of Italy
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Politics of Italy is conducted through a constitutional republic with a multi-party system. The executive power is exercised collectively by the Council of Ministers, legislative power is vested in the two houses of parliament primarily, and secondarily on the Council of Ministers, which can introduce bills and holds the majority in the parliament.

1.
Sergio Mattarella, President of Italy since 3 February 2015.

2.
Italian Republic

3.
Laura Boldrini, President of the Chamber of Deputies since 16 March 2013.

4.
Pietro Grasso, President of the Senate since 16 March 2013.

List of political parties in Italy
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Political parties in Italy are numerous and there are hundreds of parties which are no longer active. Since World War II, no party has gained enough support to govern alone. Parties thus form political alliances and coalition governments, in November 2013 The People of Freedom was dissolved and merged into the new Forza Italia, provoking the format

1.
Italian Republic

Elections in Italy
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The President of the Republic is elected for a seven-year term by the two houses of Parliament in joint session. Italy has historically had many parties, both national and regional, with different party systems. The most recent Italian general election was held on 24 and 25 February 2013, on 24 April 2013, Napolitano, gave the task to form a new go

Italian language
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By most measures, Italian, together with Sardinian, is the closest to Latin of the Romance languages. Italian is a language in Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City. Italian is spoken by minorities in places such as France, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Crimea and Tunisia and by large expatriate communities in the Americas. Many speakers

1.
Dante Alighieri (above) and Petrarch (below) were influential in establishing their Tuscan dialect as the most prominent literary language in all of Italy in the Late Middle Ages

2.
The geographic distribution of the Italian language in the world: large Italian-speaking communities are shown in green; light blue indicates areas where the Italian language was used officially during the Italian colonial period.

4.
Pietro Bembo was an influential figure in the development of the Italian language from the Tuscan dialect, as a literary medium, codifying the language for standard modern usage

Democratic Party (Italy) leadership election, 2013
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The 2013 Democratic Party leadership election was an open primary election held in November–December 2013. After having come first in the vote by party members, Matteo Renzi was elected by a landslide 68% in a primary on 8 December. Candidates were required to file their candidacies by 11 October 2013, between 14 October and 6 November local and pr

2.
Nominee

The Olive Tree (Italy)
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The Olive Tree was a denomination used for several successive centre-left political and electoral alliances of Italian political parties from 1995 to 2007. On 21 April 1996, The Olive Tree won 1996 general election in alliance with the Communist Refoundation Party, on 9 October 1998, the Prodi I Cabinet fell when PRC left the alliance. Since 21 Oct

1.
A street stall during the campaign for the European Parliament election in Como

The Union (Italy)
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The Union was an heterogenous centre-left political and electoral alliance of political parties in Italy. The Union was led by Romano Prodi, Prime Minister of Italy from April 2006 to April 2008, the Union was the direct heir of The Olive Tree coalition which represented the centre-left in the 1996 and 2001 general elections. However, The Union als

1.
Romano Prodi was the leader of L'Unione, having won the primary elections.

Italian general election, 2006
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The 2006 Italian general election for the two Chambers of the Italian Parliament was held on 9 and 10 April 2006. Romano Prodi, leader of the centre-left coalition The Union, narrowly defeated the incumbent Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, initial exit polls suggested a victory for Prodi, but the results narrowed as the count progressed. On 11 Apr

1.
All 630 seats in the Italian Chamber of Deputies 315 seats in the Italian Senate

3.
A pollbox.

Italian Communist Party
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The Italian Communist Party was a communist political party in Italy. The PCI was founded as Communist Party of Italy on 21 January 1921 in Livorno, Amadeo Bordiga and Antonio Gramsci led the split. Outlawed during the Fascist regime, the party played a part in the Italian resistance movement. It changed its name in 1943 to PCI and became the secon

1.
Palmiro Togliatti

2.
Italian Communist Party Partito Comunista Italiano

3.
Enrico Berlinguer

Christian Democracy (Italy)
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Christian Democracy was a Christian democratic political party in Italy. The DC was founded in 1943 as the successor of the Italian Peoples Party, which had the same symbol. The party was nicknamed the White Whale, from 1946 until 1994 the DC was the largest party in Parliament, governing in successive coalitions. It originally supported government

1.
Alcide De Gasperi

2.
Christian Democracy Democrazia Cristiana

3.
Giulio Andreotti

4.
Propaganda posters of the DC: they described to potential voters the party's commitment to anti-communism (in the left poster), traditionalism (in the centre poster), and family values (in the right poster). Note the use of symbols, especially the crossed shield (representing the DC) protecting Italy (represented by Italia Turrita) from the communist hammer and sickle symbol being used as a weapon in the left poster.

The Democrats (Italy)
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The Democrats were a centrist and social-liberal political party in Italy. The party was launched in 1999 by Romano Prodi, a few months after his dismissal as Prime Minister and leader of The Olive Tree centre-left coalition, three parties merged into The Democrats, the Democratic Union, Italy of Values and The Network. Also splinters from the Ital

1.
The Democrats I Democratici

Third Way
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The Third Way is promoted by some social democratic and social liberal movements. Major Third Way social democratic proponent Tony Blair claimed that the socialism he advocated was different from conceptions of socialism. Blair said My kind of socialism is a set of values based around notions of social justice, socialism as a rigid form of economic

1.
Bill Clinton and Tony Blair, adherents of the "Third Way".

2.
Matteo Renzi and Manuel Valls, politicians considered to follow the "Third Way".

3.
The Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi is considered a Third Way politician.

4.
Two Third Way proponents: Professor Anthony Giddens and former U.S. President Bill Clinton

Italian general election, 2013
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Close behind, the new anti-establishment Five Star Movement of comedian Beppe Grillo became the third force, clearly ahead of the centrist coalition of outgoing Prime Minister Mario Monti. In the Senate, no group or party won an outright majority. Eventually a coalition between the centre-left, centre and centre-right was formed, following the Euro

1.
All 630 seats to the Chamber of Deputies and 315 (out of the 319) seats to the Senate of the Republic

4.
Federica Mogherini with the ministers of foreign affairs of the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, Germany, France, China and Iran negotiating in Lausanne for a Comprehensive agreement on the Iranian nuclear programme (30 March 2015).

1.
Joachim Gauck, the current German president who is a centrist politician and activist without party affiliation. In 1990 he took part in the Alliance 90, having become an independent after its merger with The Greens.

2.
Campaign for the Norwegian Centre Party at Nærbø. Like its Finnish and Swedish counterparts, the party has a strong focus on decentralisation, rural and agrarian issues.

3.
Ross Perot, former United States Presidential candidate in the 1992 and 1996 elections.